Evolution of photocatalytic membrane for antibiotics degradation: Perspectives and insights for sustainable environmental remediation

Development of antibiotic resistance genes contributed by unregulated disposal of antibiotics to the environment has become an overwhelming risk worldwide. An evolutionary technology, photocatalytic membrane (PM) that integrates both photocatalysis and membrane separation in one unit is introduced to treat the antibiotics. The ability of photocatalytic membrane to simultaneously degrade antibiotics while promoting handy recovery of photocatalysts from the wastewater dramatically enhances process sustainability and minimize treatment unit footprint. To date, reviews on antibiotics removal only focus on standalone photocatalysis and membrane process. In this work, a pioneer overview that focuses on treatment of one specific pollutant: antibiotics by employing the hybrid PM technology was performed. Configurations of PM, materials including ceramic and polymer used as the membrane base are summarized, followed by factors influencing performance of the integrated process. Photocatalysts harnessed in photocatalytic membrane to treat antibiotics mainly focused on TiO2 and g-C3N4, regardless of the materials of membranes. From energy consumption and economic evaluations of PM technology, process parameters are reported to significantly influence the energy requirement and costing. As light source is accounted for the highest portion of energy consumption, harnessing natural sunlight to power the photocatalytic reaction would be a great direction to be ventured into. Future potential of sunlight-powered photocatalytic membrane to treat antibiotics in the escalating aquaculture industry is proposed.